More Freaky Pennsylvanian People

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - Police faced a difficult if not impossible task Thursday as they tried to stop the spread of pornographic video and photos of two high school girls, images that were transmitted by cell phone to dozens of the girls' classmates and then to the wider world.

Read the full story HERE.

Smells Like Teen Spirit

Two Florida high school girls were kicked out of the stands at a football game for arriving bodypainted in school colors. The girls wore bikini tops and all of their private bits were covered yet they were ejected while bodypainted boys were allowed to stay.

I'm not the women's lib movement's greatest advocate but come on, fair is fair. The girls took physiological and social differences into account by wearing tops whereas the boys undoubtedly were topless. I have to agree with the girls on this one. Either both genders can wear bodypaint or neither should.

Article HERE.

Hands Off

A school in Virginia has instituted a policy prohibiting students from making any physical contact. Apparently, the school is incapable of differentiating inappropriate contact such as punching, fondling and "making out" as opposed to proper conduct such as shaking and holding hands, "high fives" and brief hugs. It's so comforting to know that school administrators can't make the distinction. For more on this ridiculous policy, click here.

Rebirth of Socialism?

Unbelievable as it might sound but despite socialism and communisms' failure across the globe a school in Seattle is still promoting them as preferable alternatives to capitalism and having private property rights. This "lesson" is being implemented by banning the imperialist Legos, long known as the tools of greed.

The concept that property ownership as evil is being indoctrinated into students at the Hilltop Center in Seattle.

The teachers first assaulted the idea of ownership. When students expressed resistence to the teachers' distain for ownership rights ("If I buy it, I own it"), the teachers spent several months espousing their Marxist views on equality, power and class-struggle.

Eventually, the hostage Legos were returned to the classroom after the children had sufficiently embraced the viewpoint of their teachers, including that "All structures are public structures" and "All structures will be standard sizes."

Yes, soon we can look forward to the same economic stunning successes that have been demonstrated in North Korea and Cuba. It is unclear whether this new development foreshadows a return of Barney the Dinosaur to national prominence. Nonetheless, it is apparent that the enemies of free enterprise, private property ownership and the American dream are still hard at work.

See the full article.

Public Edumacation

And you thought your public school district had problems?

Lessons Learned

Larkin teachers forced to shed T-shirts protesting superintendent's raise

About 20 Larkin (Elgin, IL) High School teachers Friday wore T-shirts to school protesting the board's tentative decision to give Elgin Area School District U-46 Superintendent Connie Neale a raise and bonus.

The T-shirts read, "My superintendent got a $40,000 raise and all I got was ... this lousy T-shirt."

District administrators warned the teachers they would be charged with insubordination and suspended without pay if they did not remove the shirts, Elgin Teachers Association President Tim Davis said Monday.

The teachers then either removed the shirts or turned them inside out.

Larkin Principal Rich Webb, under direction from central administration officials, told the teachers they were behaving unprofessionally and disrupting the learning environment by mounting a personal attack against Neale.

The administration officials were acting on advice from their lawyers, who advised them they could discipline teachers who refused to remove the T-shirts.

Webb, U-46 Communications Director Kris Houser and U-46 attorney Pat Broncato did not return phone calls seeking comment Monday.

Lawyers from Franczek Sullivan, the district's principal law firm, however, said Monday they had concluded that teachers' First Amendment rights are limited in an elementary or secondary school setting.

"When that speech is not curriculum-related, and especially where you have impressionable students, you can curtail certain speech rights," said Patricia Whitten of Franczek Sullivan. Constitutional law experts agreed the district had a right to ask the teachers to remove the shirts, citing precedents that say governments can regulate the speech of employees if that speech threatens to disrupt their job.

"I'd say this fits," said Northwestern University constitutional law professor Martin Redish. "A protest of their superior's actions in front of students could easily be characterized as disruptive." Davis disputed the district's interpretation of the incident, saying he wouldn't characterize the T-shirts as unprofessional or a personal attack against Neale.

"It's an indication to me that people are concerned about how the district is using its resources," Davis said.

Neale's contract has been scrutinized since last month, when school board member Dan Rich resigned in protest of the board's tentative decision to give Neale a $20,000 raise and 10 percent, tax-free bonus, bringing her total pay and benefits package to about $420,000 this year.

Teachers said they used the T-shirts as a learning tool to spark discussion.

Davis agreed the T-shirts didn't necessarily disrupt the learning environment. "The way it was worded, it might have drawn some attention, but I don't think it would grind learning to a halt."

Article by Emily Krone, Daily Herald Staff Writer